Water rationing expected with rainfall drought

The City of Willits is poised to call for water rationing at its Jan. 8 city council meeting. Willits water reservoirs were at 389 acre feet last week with usage at 2.5 acre feet being used by Willits water customers each day for the past two weeks, according to Willits City Manager Adrienne Moore. Water usage this December is up by about 1 acre foot per day compared with December 2012.

With the anticipated declaration of a phase three emergency, each household will be limited to a maximum water usage of 250 gallons per day or 10 units per month. Commercial customers face a mandatory 15 percent cut compared with the prior year usage. While these limits are in place certain actions considered wasteful are prohibited, these include washing sidewalks and other hard surfaces, washing vehicles of all types and refilling swimming pools, hot tubs or spas.

An acre foot is the water needed to cover one acre with one foot of water or 325,851 gallons. In 2012 city residents used 865 acre feet of water, according to reports filed by the city with the California Department of Water Resources.

Willits declared a phase two water emergency on Nov. 18 when the city asked water customers to cut back voluntarily on their usage.

Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 23 the Willits area has received only 2.88 inches of rain. Last year during the same period the area received 31.04 inches. The normal rainfall during this period is 17.5 inches.

The forecast for the next week is dry, according to National Weather Service Meteorologist Matthew Kidwell. The longer term forecast for eight to 14 days is still pretty dry. Beyond that, the outlook for January rainfall is "below normal," says Kidwell. A persistent ridge over the west coast is blocking rainmakers from reaching the area, with most of the rainfall shifting to Washington and Canada.

Making the situation even worse are concerns about whether the estimated amount of water remaining in the two reservoirs is accurate. The amount of silt which has accumulated in Morris Reservoir during the last 20 plus years is unknown. There is an estimated 339 acre feet of the water in Morris reservoir without adjusting for this siltation.